Diamond Preparation for Glasgow Favourite Mickle

Published On: 17 July 2014

Kim Mickle has one last competitive hitout before the Commonwealth Games. A throw at the Monaco Diamond League

WAIS javelin thrower Kim Mickle will get a world class preparation for the Commonwealth Games tomorrow when she competes at the Monaco Diamond League.

The 2013 WAIS Athlete of the Year couldn’t ask for a better launchpad for this month’s Glasgow Games, as she will take on the reigning Olympic Champion, Barbora Spotakova and fellow 2013 World Championship medallist Linda Stahl at the Stade Lious II stadium.

In Monaco, Mickle is one of six athletes with a personal best of 66m or further and with rankings points on offer for the rich season ending Diamond League Final, she is certain to compete against a field chasing big throws, providing a crucial hitout before her Glasgow campaign gets under way on Tuesday 29 July with qualifying.

Mickle has medalled at each Diamond League event she has contested in 2014, and last week threw 61.89m for victory at a small meet in Finland. Her current competition schedule comes in the midst of a heavy training block as she finalises towards a taper for her peak event for the year in Glasgow.

She enters the Games as a warm favourite, having finished fourth in Melbourne in 2006 and second at the last Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. However, with the form she has displayed post London Olympics, a stretch that has seen her medal at every event she’s entered, a spot on the top step certainly isn’t beyond her, and she has claimed in interview that she is enjoying the expectation rather than attempting to deflect the attention.

Mickle is not the only WAIS athlete in the final throes of preparation, with two young WA pole vaulters readying themselves for the IAAF Junior World Championships in Eugene, USA.

WAIS starlets Nina Kennedy and Emma Philippe take to the runway for the women’s pole vault at the championships held in Oregon from July 22.

Kennedy and Philippe have based their training in Canada, with the pair competing in a final practice competition last week. Kennedy starred, clearing 4.30m which if replicated would put her firmly in the medal frame. Philippe competed well to clear 4.05m, but has enjoyed a breakthrough domestic season that saw her clear 4.25m during the campaign.

The pair will go head to head with Venezuelan prodigy Robeilys Peinado – who at just 15 already owns a personal best of 4.40m.